After SB XLVI, O'Brien off to Happy Valley
Penn State's new football coach Bill O'Brien addresses the media after he was introduced during a news conference. (Jan. 7, 2012) Credit: AP
INDIANAPOLIS -- If the Patriots win Super Bowl XLVI, don't look for Bill O'Brien on a parade float Tuesday.
"I've got a human resources orientation meeting that I've got to be at," he said.
That meeting is in State College, Pa., where starting next week O'Brien finally can focus his much-needed attention. First, though, there is the small matter of coordinating the offense for the AFC champions here.
Weird, huh?
"I wouldn't say it's weird," he said Wednesday at the Patriots' hotel. "I think in coaching there are a lot of things that come up."
O'Brien simultaneously is preparing to take control of the Penn State football program in the wake of one of the worst scandals in the history of college sports while game-planning against the Giants for one of the most exacting, demanding head coaches in the NFL.
The awkward balancing act became more so when Joe Paterno, the icon O'Brien will succeed, died the morning of the AFC Championship Game. O'Brien visited the campus last week to pay his respects, and also to conduct meetings and other business.
"It was an emotional time for me, being in the coaching profession," he said. "You could see what a special man he was and what he meant to Penn State."
Oh, one more thing: O'Brien's session with reporters Wednesday came early on the morning of National Signing Day, when most coaches wait by the phone for news from high school seniors, not on a practice field preparing a future Hall of Fame quarterback for the Super Bowl.
O'Brien said he expected to get a list of new players faxed to him later in the day and would try to call the freshmen-to-be to welcome them. After completing his day job, of course. "A lot of these kids, they don't sleep a lot, so you can call them at 10:30, 11 o'clock at night and they will answer the phone like it's 8 o'clock in the morning," he said. "So late at night I try to get some things done. But the primary focus is the Patriots."
No matter how often reporters -- especially ones from Pennsylvania -- tried to talk Penn State, O'Brien eventually steered the conversation back to his commitment to the Patriots.
He said the key to making it work has been the help of the Patriots and Penn State staffs. That includes his boss for the next four days, Bill Belichick, whom O'Brien said assigned Patriots staffers to help him with logistics.
"Bill O'Brien has done everything he normally does, and everything he can possibly do," Belichick said. "I'm sure he's spent some extra hours early in the morning and late at night doing things for Penn State."
Penn State was not expecting a banner recruiting year by its standards, with some players already having turned elsewhere. But O'Brien said he appreciated the recruits who remained committed.
"We can't wait to coach them and watch them grow as men," he said. "It's a testament to them they stuck with us."
O'Brien's biggest claim to fame before Penn State hired him was a heated sideline confrontation with Brady after an interception against the Redskins Dec. 11. But O'Brien said the spat quickly was forgotten.
"He's balancing a couple of different things, but we know that he's fully committed to this team and what we're trying to accomplish," Brady said.
The Patriots will be fine, with former coordinator Josh McDaniels having rejoined the staff. But for now it still is O'Brien's unit, and he insisted no matter what the fax machine spat out Wednesday he would not waver in his attention to the task at hand.
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